


Stay With Me Forever

by theRadioStarr



Series: Lost In Thoughts [7]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 12:26:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7051360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theRadioStarr/pseuds/theRadioStarr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>I've been battling these emotions since I first learned we aren't blood related... But as I said, I cannot hold them back any longer.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The mature rating only applies to Chapter 2, and mostly involves themes/language, not any actual acts. There's also mention of Leo/Niles in this fic, very briefly, but it's not really a 'ship' for the sake of the fic.

Leo was seven, and he didn’t understand.

“Xan?” His big brother didn’t look down, but put his hand on Leo’s shoulder instead, prompting him to continue. “Why does Nat have to stay in the castle, and we don’t?”

He heard Xander sigh beside him. The hand on his shoulder tightened just enough to stop him, and Xander stepped around to kneel in front of him. He had grown a lot in the last few months, and his voice was different now, but this was the first time he’d ever felt like Xander wasn’t a kid anymore.

“Leo, Natalie’s situation is… complicated.”

“Did _her_ mom make Father angrier than ours did?”

Xander smiled sadly and shook his head. “No, Leo… it has nothing to do with that.”

Leo frowned. “But she gets to stay there. She has food brought to her, she has private lessons, and she has friends she can play with all day. Why don’t _we_ have our own castles?” It wasn’t _fair –_ how had _she_ come to be the favourite?

He was too caught up in his childish jealousy to register the pained look on Xander’s face. “What she has is _not_ a blessing, Leo.”

Leo _harrumphed_ and shrugged Xander’s hand off of his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Xander nodded again and stood, leading the way with Leo hot on his heels. Despite his ire, he couldn’t help but look back towards the Northern Fortress. He’d never admit it to anyone (least of all, Xander) but he wished, just then, that he’d had more time to play with her.

 

*                             *                             *

 

It was her twelfth birthday, and suddenly Leo understood something.

They all sat around a table: himself and his siblings, with Natalie at the head and three empty seats for her butlers. They would do this again, in just over a month, for _his_ birthday – his _tenth_ birthday, which would be a grand occasion, if Natalie’s tenth birthday was any sort of indication.

They had just finished cake, and Jakob had brought out a large pot of tea for them all. Leo took a careful sip as he truly studied his siblings.

You could look around the room and tell that each of them were related, even if they didn’t share _exactly_ the same blood. Camilla was the only one who wasn’t blonde, but still, her facial features and her mannerisms were familiar enough that no one would mistake them for anything but siblings.

Except for Natalie.

She was _entirely_ different. Long, blue hair that was oddly as bright as it was deep – this wouldn’t be unusual, thanks to Camilla's odd purple hair – but there was also no sign of the long, straight nose they all shared, or the sharper jaw, or the pointed chin all but Xander seemed to have (but her chin wasn’t like his, either). Even her stature was different than Camilla’s, though with Elise still being so young, it was hard to tell if they were built similarly in that way.

And then there were Natalie’s ears, which he hadn’t thought about until Camilla put her teacup down and moved to stand behind Natalie so that she could play with her hair. As Camilla swept the hair back off the side of her face, he saw the odd shape of the shell of her ear: pointed and oddly textured, as if someone had used a knife to carve lines into the outer shell.

He must have been staring, because Natalie caught his eye suddenly. He thought momentarily about the differences there, too, as he held her gaze for that half a second: they were crimson, not violet like the rest, and they were both slightly more round and spaced a little more narrowly on her face. She raised a brow in silent question, and Leo choked on his tea in shock. Heat flooded his face, but Xander was immediately at his side, a fist pounding on his back, and the moment was forgotten.

“You okay, little brother?” Natalie asked kindly when he could breathe again.

“I’m _fine_ ,” he snarked, unsure of why he was suddenly so uncomfortable. His heart started racing again when he glanced up at her and found her trying not to smile at him. He spent the rest of the afternoon dutifully staring into the bottom of his teacup, at the whorls in the polished wooden tabletop, at _anything_ that wasn’t _her_.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long until Xander gathered them up to go.

“I want to stay and play more!” Elise pouted.

“I’d love for you to stay, Elise,” Natalie cooed, and Elise shrieked in delight, practically throwing herself at her.

Camilla chuckled. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem, dear.”

“I’ll come get you in time for dinner,” Xander told them. They both thanked him, and then Leo was being whisked out into the hallway and out of the castle.

The three of them walked in silence until they were out of the front gates, and then Camilla placed a gentle hand on the top of Leo’s head, smoothing his hair out. “Are you alright, darling? You look distracted.”

Leo chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few moments, wondering whether he should say something.

“Leo?” Xander asked tentatively. There was an unusual amount of concern in his voice, and before Leo knew what he was saying, the words tumbled out of his mouth.

“Natalie’s not actually our sister, is she?”

Camilla and Xander stopped dead in their tracks; he could feel the tension in Camilla, at least, with the way her hand instantly clawed in his hair. He looked up at them, where they were sharing a look over his head, and he sighed. “Forget it,” he mumbled, kicking at a stone near his feet.

Xander cleared his throat quietly. “Come,” was all he said, and they resumed their walk.

Leo expected, upon returning to the Capital, that he was either going to be reprimanded or that his comment would have been forgotten. He was surprised when Xander led them all back to his private study.

He ushered them in and locked the door behind himself. Camilla found a seat and made herself comfortable, but Leo was nervous, and didn’t know what to do.

“It’s okay, Leo. Take a seat.” Xander gestured aimlessly around the room at all the numbers of empty chairs and sofas. He chose to settle in next to Camilla, and Xander pulled up a chair to sit opposite them. “This is something we should discuss, just… not where othr ears could hear.”

There was silence again for a moment. Camilla resumed smoothing Leo’s hair. “You mean… I’m right?”

“She _is_ our sister, Leo, she just... doesn’t share any blood with us,” Xander finally admitted.

“Poor little Natalie would have died if Father hadn’t taken her in,” Camilla cooed. Her hand fell to massage Leo’s neck at his hairline.

“I don’t understand.”

Xander leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees and hands folded between them. He stared down at them as he collected his thoughts. “You were too young to remember when she was brought here,” he started, voice quiet and low as he thought back. “It was just before you turned three, and you were too excited about having another sibling on the way to pay her much attention. I don’t know the circumstances of what happened, truly. As I’m aware of it, Father went to Cheve in order to begin peace negotiations with Hoshido, but things went sour and King Sumeragi was killed. Father found Natalie a short time later, crying at his side. The town was deserted, and so he brought her back here.”

“She’s… Hoshidan?”

Xander nodded.

“Why wouldn’t Father have sent her back to Hoshido then?”

“He was worried that there was no one who _could_ take her back. The skirmish went poorly for the Hoshidans,” Xander told him simply. “When Father returned, he introduced us to her. All he’d learned was that her name was Natalie. We could only guess at her age, and had no idea when her birthday was, so we decided we would celebrate it as the day she joined our family. He told us that she would stay isolated at the Northern Fortress, as he believed that the trauma of seeing Sumeragi full of arrows would take time to heal, but asked that we ensure that she was treated as family. She would be another sister to us all.”

“Oh, and Leo, darling? She isn’t to know any of this. Father worries it would upset her unduly. She seems to have forgotten all about the whole thing.” Leo looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and Camilla smiled sweetly at him. “We were going to tell you about it in another couple of years, but you’re just so smart, you had to go and figure it out all on your own!”

Leo huffed impatiently at the compliment. He took in a breath to speak, but Xander cut him off.

“Please, Leo, it’s important that you understand – she is no less your sister just because you don’t share blood,” he pleaded.

Leo nodded. “I know,” he answered simply, even as some part of him rebelled at the thought.

“Good.” Leo hadn’t realized how tense Xander was until the older boy relaxed. “Now, with that settled – would you like another cup of tea?”

Leo shook his head and stood, leading Camilla to _tut_ impatiently. “No, thank you, brother. I have some reading to get caught up on before my lessons tomorrow.”

Xander chuckled. “Such a model student. We’ll see you at dinner, then.”

Leo nodded and left as quickly as he could, closing the door quietly behind him. He barely paid any attention to where he was going, almost walking straight into one of Xander’s retainers as he rounded a corner. When he made it back to his room, he grabbed one of his texts at random and flipped it open to his marked page before falling gracelessly onto his own sofa with a sigh. His mind was too full at the moment to really focus on his readings; still, he tried to read, and learn.

Not even closing and scrubbing at his eyes could get the image of his _sister_ out of his sight.

 

*                             *                             *

 

He was barely thirteen, and he couldn’t lie to himself any longer.

He had finally chosen to become a mage, and since he had mastered the art so quickly, he had inherited the Brynhildr sooner than anyone expected. Camilla had tried to help him with it, but she’d had an even more difficult time trying to figure it out than he had.

He decided finally to actually _read_ the tome – something he’d never had to do with the simpler Fire and Thunder tomes he’d worked with before, but then again, they were far simpler magics. Leo could easily have stayed at the Capital to do this, but he preferred to come out to the Northern Fortress with Xander each day, instead.

Xander, having completed his own studies finally, had been tasked with training Natalie in the art of swordplay. She was a natural, truly, but he had the upper hand of strength and experience. While they smacked each other with sharpened metal, Leo was usually casting spells at a dummy, but with the challenge that Brynhildr was presenting him, he used the time to read, instead.

Except, well… it was easy to get distracted.

Leo loved being able to actively watch them sparring. Xander was too stationary – he always was – but Natalie was always moving. There was a grace about her, a fluidity like water as she almost danced with her blade, but still not flashy enough to be a liability.

She came to a stop, if you could call it that, as her and Xander stared each other down. Her knees were bent, ready to spring, and she gently shifted her weight between her feet rhythmically. It made her look like she was keeping time to a song only she could hear.

He couldn’t help but smile when she spun her blade in her hand and looked over at him. “How am I doing, Leo?” she called out.

“You’re doing great, sister,” he called back. “Just be careful of your flank, you keep leaving it open.”

Xander looked at him, too, and his stomach twisted as their gazes locked. Leo had taken to calling Natalie ‘sister’ as often as possible after finding out about her heritage. There was something in the way he said it, though – a slight emphasis, as if he were trying to remind himself of her place – that seemed to worry his older brother, even after a few years.

In truth, he was horrifically uncomfortable calling her sister, though if you were to ask him why, he’d shrug unaffectedly while his face burned. It wasn’t until that day that he could even figure it out for himself.

He watched as Xander lunged at her, breaking their stalemate; she spun out of the way, but he had memorized her patterns, and lashed out quickly again to stop her. The pommel of his sword caught her wrist, and she shrieked in pain as her sword clattered to the ground.

Leo was up and running to her side before he knew what he was doing. He saw Xander drop his sword, could see his mouth moving, but the only sound to his ears was his own hammering heart and her whimpers of pain.

Xander tried to pull her close, to examine her hand and wrist for damage, but she turned away, refusing his help. He sighed aggressively and ran a hand down his face.

“We have everything under control here, Leo-”

He stopped short when Leo grabbed Natalie’s uninjured arm and dragged her into a careful embrace. She allowed him to hold her close, folding neatly into his chest (since when had he grown taller than her?). Tears ran freely on the shoulder of his mage robes. Xander gave him a questioning look, and Leo responded with an unknowing look in response.

“Here, sister, let me see it.”

“I think it – it might be broken,” Natalie sobbed.

He barely touched it, and she hissed; already, her wrist and hand were badly swollen and bruised. “I think you’re right – this needs immediate attention.”

“We have no healers-” Xander started, but Natalie cut him off.

“Jakob can help.”

Xander cleared his throat awkwardly. “I, uh… I’ll go fetch him.” He afforded Leo one more curious look before taking off towards the main keep.

Natalie continued to cry, the tears falling silently now. Leo kept an arm around her shoulders, using his free hand to brush her hair off her face. “He didn’t hit you that hard on purpose, you know.”

She nodded. “I know. But he still – still broke it. It _hurts_.”

“Jakob will have it mended in no time.”

His breath caught in his chest as she looked up at him through her long, wet lashes. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her cheeks were wet and splotchy from the tears, and yet it struck him dumb to realize suddenly how beautiful she was.

“Thank you for coming to check on me. I should have just let Xander do it, but…”

“Of course.” _I couldn’t bear to see you hurt._ “I – I am your brother, after all.”

The word _brother_ almost stuck in his throat. He _wasn’t_ her brother – not really. And he had long since ceased to actually see her as a sister. His heart was racing, palms sweaty, and why was he still holding her this close? The thought of kissing her tears away bounced around in his head dangerously.

“My Lady!”

The sight of Jakob sprinting onto the training grounds, staff in hand, broke Leo’s train of thought. He took the opportunity to step back and take in a few deep gulps of air that weren’t heavy with the scent of her hair and sweat.

He watched in silence as Jakob mended her wrist for her, checking it over no less than five times to ensure that all the bones had reset properly and that nothing else had been overlooked.

“And _you_ , sire, need to be more careful!” Jakob exclaimed as he turned on Xander. “She is a living being, not one of your training dummies! What if that had been a rib, and you’d punctured one of her lungs, hm?”

Xander looked like he wanted to argue, but was smart enough to know that it would win him no ground here.

“Your training is done for the day, I think,” Jakob continued. “I will take the young Lady back to her study, where she can work on the extra readings she was assigned this morning.”

Natalie sighed, and gave Xander a hug.

“I’m sorry, Little Princess.”

“It’s okay – I know it was just an accident. It just hurt a lot and I was very surprised.” She pulled away from Xander, then and turned to Leo to hug him, too. “Thank you for coming to help.”

Leo held her tightly, but not for too long. “Always,” he told her. “I love you.”

There was one, two, three heartbeats of paralyzing fear as he realized what he’d said. When she finally pulled away from him, though, she looked as if nothing was out of place. “And I love you, brother. I’ll see you soon?”

“Tomorrow, most likely,” Xander answered her, and they waited only until Jakob had ushered her away to retrieve their things and set off back toward the Capital.

 _And I love you, brother._ The words stuck in Leo’s head, bouncing around painfully.

“I am _not_ your _brother_.”

“What was that?” Xander asked from a few paces ahead.

Leo stared at his boots. “Nothing,” he mumbled just as quietly, and kicked a stone down the road. Xander paid him no other mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NSFW. Mature themes and a little bit of language. Nothing too too bad but if you think it's a bad idea, it probably is. 
> 
> Also, Leo uses one singular sex-worker slur. I apologize.

It was her sixteenth birthday, and he sat impatiently next to her as he waited for her to get to his gift.

Now that Natalie was old enough to be able to take care of her own hair, she had decided to grow it out quite long. It curled wildly at the ends like Camilla’s and it was heavy, constantly blowing around her face and falling forward into her eyes. Camilla had loaned her a few of her old hair ribbons, but they were old and already starting to fall apart when Natalie had received them, so Leo decided to get her a few new ones.

He had asked Elise to go in on it with him, but it had been his idea, and he had picked the ribbons out. Elise got to choose the clasp to hold it in place, and had gone with a large black bow with a heavy black stone in the middle to compliment them all equally.

"Leo! Leo, look!” Elise leaned over the edge of her seat next to him and clung to his arm. “She’s going to open our gift!”

“I’m trying to watch, Elise.”

“Ooooh, I’m so excited!” She was almost halfway into Leo’s lap at this point, and Leo pushed his chair back to let her pass. She giggled and let him go, finally, rushing to stand right at Natalie’s side.

“Elise, I can’t see,” Leo complained, and Elise skipped around to the other side of Natalie’s chair instead.

“Okay, ready?”

Natalie laughed. “Thank you, both,” she said with a bright smile before lifting the lid on the wooden box her gift was nestled in. She made a wordless noise of gentle excitement as she lifted the first ribbon from the box, first, followed by the bow.

He had purposely bought ribbons of ranging quality; naturally, the first one she lifted out was of the highest. It was white silk, spun with barely visible silver fibers to catch the light. He had seen it and immediately thought of how well it would accentuate the beautiful blue of her hair.

“These are exquisite. Thank you both so much!”

“I picked the bow!” Elise announced proudly. “Leo picked all of the ribbons for you.”

“They’re perfect.”

Elise gasped and reached immediately for the effects in Natalie’s hands. “Let’s put them on right now! I’ll help!”

“Now, darling, let me help, too.”

Leo reached for his teacup absently as he watched his sisters play with Natalie’s hair. Camilla scooped it all up, and Elise took the small pin over Natalie’s ear out of the ribbon she was currently wearing before installing the new one and pinning the bow in place.

“How is it?” Natalie asked as her hair fell across her shoulders again. Camilla started arranging it delicately, and Elise squealed with delight.

“It’s so pretty!”

Camilla leaned over Natalie’s shoulder to look at the other options in the box on the table. “All excellent choices, darling. I may have to borrow the purple one from you, if it’s okay.”

Leo wanted to snarl that it was _not_ okay, but it was no longer his call to make.

“Of course!” Natalie answered brightly, immediately. “Well, Leo? What do you think?”

He stared at her perhaps a second or two too long. He had been purposely distancing himself from her, but today, he couldn’t possibly think of being so cold. Not when she was looking at him so openly, her eyes wide with expectation, cheeks pink with mirth, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she waited on his answer.

The ribbon caught the late afternoon sun spectacularly, casting pink and orange hues across her scalp. Her hair almost looked like the setting sun itself, especially as the white seemed to pick up a little of the blue of her hair. He was quite proud of himself.

“It’s… lovely,” he answered, and then cleared his throat a little awkwardly. “It seems I chose well.”

“You certainly did, darling,” Camilla agreed, and Leo was free from their attention finally until the end of the night.

When he returned with the others the following morning, he was hurt to see her wearing one of the old fraying ribbons with her small metal clasp again.

“Is something wrong?” she asked him cautiously.

He was quiet for a moment. “I thought you liked the ones I got you.”

“Oh, Leo, I do! But training is hard work, and I don’t want to ruin them with all the sweating. I’ve decided to keep the old tattered ones just for that.”

Leo sighed and smiled. “Good. I thought for a moment you weren’t being honest with me yesterday.”

“I could never lie to you, brother,” she teased, before Xander called her over. She smiled back brightly as she skipped away.

He averted his gaze and focused on his casting to calm his racing heart.

 

*                             *                             *

 

He was eighteen, and he had never been more uncomfortable.

Xander sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face. He looked tired, and tense.

“Have a seat, Leo. We need to… talk.”

Leo frowned and sat on the sofa across from his brother. “What have I done this time?”

“Nothing,” Xander assured him. “And, Leo, let me begin by saying that I’d rather not have to have this discussion with you, but I imagine it would be far more comfortable to hear it from me than it would be from Father. Please, let us get this done and over with as quickly as possible.”

“What’s going on? Is everything alright?” There was a pit of anxiety settling into his stomach, and he repositioned on the couch, trying to get comfortable.

“Everything is fine. Have some tea – I’m sorry it’s nothing stronger.” He waited until Leo had poured a cup and settled back into the seat with it before continuing. His eyes slid closed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Now, Leo, you are… very much considered an adult now. And as a prince to the kingdom of Nohr, you have some… responsibilities.”

Leo cleared his throat and gulped his tea back, placing the empty cup carefully on the little table between them. His hands were shaking; he folded them neatly in his lap to try to hide it. “I imagine I do – would you like to elaborate?”

Xander’s eyes shot open to give Leo a very frustrated look. “I’m getting to it,” he snarked. There was silence for another few moments. “Leo, it probably won’t happen for some time, but you are likely going to be married to a noble lady in order to forge alliances, or solidify existing ties. You are aware of this?”

“Yes…”

“And of what, exactly, that entails?”

Leo rolled his eyes. “You can spare me _that_ discussion, at least – you _have_ given me free access to your library, and you happen to have ample information about that sort of thing around.”

“I’m not even sure where those came from,” Xander mumbled as his face coloured even deeper pink. Leo resisted the urge to laugh. “You could have asked me if you needed help, you know.”

“I think I managed just fine on my own.”

“Regardless…” Leo watched as Xander heaved another deep sigh. “There is… a great emphasis placed on the wedding night, and it’s important that you don’t – you don’t end up harming your bride in ignorance. Then, or ever. So you will be starting to see a – an educator, if you will.”

“Seriously? I’m to have a hired whore to teach me how to-”

“I know, Leo, but… trust me when I tell you that you will be thankful for it down the line.” He grimaced. “Be grateful that _I_ was tasked with finding a woman for you, and not Father. And actually, when Camilla found out, she insisted on being the one to find her for you, so I imagine she will be – well, she will be good for you, I suppose.”

“When is this… _instruction_ to begin?”

“As I know it, she is waiting for you in your quarters as we speak.”

“She’s already – Xander, I can’t _do_ this,” Leo finally blurted out.

“Whyever not?”

“Because I refuse to take the chance of bringing children into this world the way _I_ was!” He was half-standing, and forced himself to take a deep breath to calm down, sinking back into his seat. “The only reason I’m here is because my mother thought to use me as a tool to see if she could become the next Queen – nevermind that Camilla’s mother was cast aside before her. She thought she could do it. If _this_ woman seriously thinks-”

“The women that are hired for this purpose are not the same types of women as your mother, or your sisters’, for that matter. I’m sorry, but it’s true.” He leaned forward to pour another cup of tea and relaxed back into his seat. He seemed far more comfortable now that the hardest part of the discussion was past. “These women are professionals of a higher grade, and they have private doctors to ensure that they remain healthy and child-free. I had no such issues myself, and I trust that it will be the same with you. Besides, do you really think Camilla would have settled on someone she thought might be attempting to abuse your station?”

“I’m sorry, brother. I’m just…”

Silence hung in the air again for a few seconds. “It’s alright to be scared. I was terrified.”

“I knew this would happen,” Leo sighed, “but I suppose I had hoped still that it wouldn’t.”

“You should go,” Xander gently pressed. It wasn’t an order, simply a suggestion; Leo was sure that if he asked for another few minutes to compose himself, he would be permitted to stay.

He nodded and swallowed nervously as he pushed himself to his feet. “I’m sorry I took that out on you, brother.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you had the ability to. I couldn’t possibly express my distaste for the idea when it was Father telling me.”

“If there was ever a reason to be grateful I’m _not_ the crown prince…”

Xander laughed at that. “I don’t blame you. Oh, and Leo? I know it will be… uncomfortable for you tonight, but I promise that will pass. Just try to – to enjoy yourself. It’s certainly not the _worst_ lesson to learn.”

Leo frowned. He opened his mouth to respond, but it was suddenly very dry; he found that he didn’t trust his voice, and simply nodded rapidly a few times before sweeping out of the room.

He thought about whether or not to duck down a side corridor to compose himself before returning to his own room, but after a minute or so of internal debate, he decided against it. Still, his thoughts were spinning so quickly that he had no idea where he was going, and it wasn’t until a hand caught his arm that he stopped and took stock of his surroundings.

“Leo, darling, are you alright? You don’t look well,” Camilla cooed. She put the back of her hand to his forehead to check his temperature, and he shook her off uncomfortably.

“I’m fine, sister.”

“Clearly not! You should see yourself. What’s happened?”

Leo huffed out an aggravated sigh. “There is a woman in my room to teach me how to treat my future wife, and I am not exactly impressed by the whole situation.”

“Oh, darling, is that all? You’re already doing better than Xander did. I remember him being quite literally ill,” his sister giggled. She reached up and helped to fix his hair. “Besides, Medona is perfectly lovely, and I am _sure_ that you will like her. You’ll have fun, dear, I promise.”

“And how exactly would you know?” Leo shot back.

Camilla just giggled and winked at him. “Let me know how it goes in the morning, darling!”

Leo rolled his eyes again and took off around the corner to hide the embarrassment burning his face. He continued on his way to his room, paying more attention this time, and arrived sooner than he wanted to.

He stood and stared at the polished wood door in front of him. Instead of entering right away, he counted out ten slow, deep breaths so that he could at least _bear_ the anxious nausea that was overtaking him, and when he finished the tenth, he reached out and forced himself to pull the door open. He did this slowly, too, praying silently that the door would allow him to enter undetected by whatever was waiting for him within.

He stepped in, and almost immediately stepped right back out.

The woman – what had Camilla said her name was? – had her back to him as she pored over the library in the study that led into his bedroom. She was tall, probably only an inch or two shorter than him, and she held her dainty-looking hands clasped together behind her back. Her hair was long, blue, and only a little wavy; Leo’s first thought was that Natalie’s hair was nicer, more lustrous and better cared for. It obscured most of the frame of her torso, but Leo thought she looked rather soft, less muscular than he and his siblings, though she still wasn’t as flared at the hip as Camilla or Natalie were.

He swallowed thickly and turned to face the door as he closed it quickly. The latch _snapped_ into place, and he stared at it until she spoke.

“Oh! You must be Prince Leo. I hope I wasn’t unexpected.”

He spun to see her eyeing him eagerly, and his breath caught in his throat for a moment. She wore just a simple shift with a tie at her waist, heavy enough to cover her but easy enough to remove quickly. The look in her eyes – they were a startling grey – was open and curious, and she tipped her head to the side as she gave him a subtle but still noticeable look up and down.

Leo cleared his throat. “That’s me. And no, you weren’t unexpected. I’m sorry – my sister mentioned your name, but it’s escaped me.”

Her tongue peeked out to wet her not-so-full lips. “That’s okay,” she told him brightly with a smile. Her voice was higher-pitched than he expected when he looked at her. “I’m Medona. It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you.”

“I believe the pleasure is mine, actually.”

She laughed brightly at that. “Oh, I like you already.” She shifted her weight onto one foot, thrusting a hip out, and lifted her hands to gather her hair and drag it over one of her shoulders.

“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long.”

“Not at all – besides, I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed the wait, anyway. Your library is far more extensive than the other noblemen I’ve worked with. That’s to be expected, though. They were wealthy enough to care about this sort of instruction, but I imagine they’re in the lower social circles. You, on the other hand, are a prince. It only makes sense that your resources be more bountiful.”

“You have a passion for learning?”

She nodded at him. “I was never able to receive a formal education, so I wouldn’t ever be good for much in that respect. My father taught me to read and bought me what books he could, but…”

Leo gestured almost lamely at his bookshelves. “Well, since we’ll be – um, getting to know each other, you may as well take advantage,” he offered. “All I ask is that the tomes are treated with care.”

“You’re too kind.” She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, towards the bedroom. “Shall we?”

Leo took a deep breath and nodded. She looked at him to lead the way, so he stepped past her and opened the door to his bedroom, gesturing her in ahead of him.

“So cozy…” she commented absently as she sauntered over to the bed. She sat on the edge and gazed around the room, so Leo took the opportunity to get the most of his bulky armour off.

There was no use prolonging the inevitable, and he knew best where the clasps and buckles were, anyway. He carefully hung each piece on his empty stand in the corner of his room, and only stopped when he reached his cotton tunic and pants. He could feel Medona’s eyes on his back, so he turned around and walked back over to where she was sitting.

“Oh, good, you left me some of the fun,” she teased. He was too wound up to find the comment amusing, so she let go of the playful façade and looked at him a little more seriously. “You’re nervous?”

He nodded slowly.

“Good. Being nervous is normal,” she told him calmly. “Now, Leo, I understand you’re a studious sort. You’ve probably read up on the way this whole thing works?”

He nodded again, colour touching his cheeks.

“A good place to start, but sex is not something you can learn properly by reading about it in a textbook.” She giggled; he had just about jumped out of his skin at the work _sex_. “This is something you can only learn by doing, and doing often. It takes practice to gain experience – and endurance. Which is why I am here. Also, you need to get closer to me for this to work, Leo.”

He did huff out an embarrassed chuckle at that. The distance between them was closed in three short steps; her knees spread on either side of his thighs to invite him closer still. “Medona…”

“Don’t worry yourself, Leo. I think you’ll do just fine. I can tell already that you’re a gentle soul.”

“You’ll tell me immediately if I hurt you?”

“I promise,” she answered confidently.

“Good. Th – thank you.” He stared at her awkwardly for a few more seconds, and then raised a hand to touch her before freezing in place. “Um – may I?”

Her eyebrows shot up as a surprised but happy smile lit up her face. “So polite! Of course you may. Trust your instincts – let’s see what you’re capable of first, and we’ll go from there.”

Being this close to her, he had a much more intimate view of her features. He didn’t consciously register how similar she looked to the face he’d been pining over for years. He absently raised his hand further, and used a fingertip to gently trace her hairline along her forehead, pushing her hair out of the way as he followed the shell of her ear, down to her chin and back up to the corner of her jaw. It traced a line down her neck to the wing of her collarbone, and he saw her eyes flutter closed contentedly.

He ducked down and took a deep breath next to the pulse in her throat. Her skin smelled good, inviting, and he opened his mouth to taste it, pinching the skin there between his teeth for just a moment before letting his lips chase the sting away.

She sucked in a sharp breath of her own, and he used the hand that had been tracing her collarbone to push the strap of her shift off of her one shoulder. He pressed another two, three kisses to her throat, softer this time, but stopped when she wriggled against him.

“Will you kiss me properly?” she asked him.

Leo smiled as he remembered – _this_ was something he’d already been taught. He stood up straight and looked down at her for a few heavy seconds. He reached with his free hand to hold her chin between his thumb and two fingers. Her lips parted just a fraction; he dipped in slowly until they connected with his, and then his hand left her chin to slide into the hair at the back of her neck.

Just like Niles had taught him.

She arched her back, and Leo took the hand that was still on her shoulder and wrapped it around her waist. He held her there for a few seconds before breaking apart to breathe; he only gave them a few seconds before he kissed her again, this time using his tongue to trace her bottom lip.

Her lips parted to him immediately, and the feeling of her tongue against his was bliss. Heat was pooling between his legs, and Leo was grateful in that moment that he’d had the foresight to get rid of the bulk of his armour. A gentle hum of contentment sounded deep in her throat, and Leo smiled against her before breaking off.

The room was quiet but for their heavy panting. “What a relief,” she finally murmured. Her voice was thick. “Teaching good kissing is far harder than any other part of this.”

Leo chuckled, and resumed where he’d left off.

She seemed happy and satisfied when she left about three hours later with a promise of returning the following evening. Leo was beyond drained, but had to admit that he’d had a great deal of fun.

Still, his last thought before he fell asleep was that Medona’s eyes were the wrong colour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I don't know if it was actually common practice to have sex workers hired to teach young noblemen proper sex manners, but I read about it in another book once years ago and the idea always stuck with me. So Leo and Xander got to have sex workers teach them a few things. 
> 
> I'm also a big fan of the headcanon where Niles was the one who taught Leo what kissing was all about - I imagine it was a curiosity thing for Leo, and Niles offered to show him how it's done, but it never really went past that point (because Niles could tell that Leo wasn't interested and Leo didn't want to lead him on).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This section called for pulling a lot of canon dialogue. I tried to change it up a bit, make it read a bit more naturally - hopefully it works!

Leo was twenty-two when he joined Natalie’s army in Cyrkensia.

The love he had held for her had long since dimmed. He still didn’t see her as his sister – just as one of his oldest friends, a comfort at the end of the day. And it was good to be at her side again.

After Medona had deemed him ‘educated enough’, he’d had one short-lived and very casual dalliance. Her name was Inaya, and she had been a different sort of beauty: quiet and mysterious, with long dark hair and permanently sunkissed skin. They had spent a month or two together over tea and long garden walks before her father promised her to a young nobleman a little closer to her own social standing. Since they had been very quiet about their friendship, Leo decided that he would be happy with whatever she chose, and surprisingly, she had chosen to follow her father’s wishes.

Finding someone else to tug on his heartstrings had a very liberating effect on Leo. There was no longer any pining, or bitterness, but rather an acceptance of things the way they were. He felt more at peace than he ever had.

Still, he was beyond happy to see her.

“That means I’ll be joining you,” he finally announced to her with a smile.

Natalie visibly relaxed at the news. She looked weary. “Thank you, Leo. I'll feel much better with you on our team.”

As they made their way to the opera house, she filled him in on everything that had happened so far – particularly the incident in Cheve, which had clearly left her very shaken. She surprised him by sticking close to his side when they reached the opera house, even making sure to sit next to him in one of the two-seater boats. As the first of the performers went on and the candles started to dim, she casually rested her head on his shoulder.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

“And I you.” He subconsciously leaned into her, placing a palm flat on the seat on the other side of her hip and leaning his weight on it. He could smell her hair, and took a deep breath of it without realizing it. The only thing he really noticed was how content and complete he felt in that moment.

Well, he did until their father started choking, anyway.

“Come, Natalie! We need to catch that singer before she – where did she go?”

Natalie was already out of the boat and onto the docks, her sword drawn and ready. “Did she get away?! Well, she couldn't have gotten far. Let's hurry!”

“Right!”

In hindsight, he should have known the Hoshidan’s would show up. At the time, though, it was all he could do to keep his frustration in check enough to survive the fight.

“Stay close, Leo,” Natalie told him.

As if he needed her to protect him; he wasn’t a helpless child anymore. “I’ve got you.”

 

*                             *                             *

 

She was the most hard-working student he’d ever seen. Still, that didn’t mean that she grasped every concept right away.

“This is… rubbish,” he told her with a deep frown. “If you positioned your units this way, they'd all be massacred!”

She looked to be almost on the verge of tears. “What? No way!”

He nodded at her, oblivious to how upset she was. “You're focusing too much on the enemies right in front of you. Rookie mistake. Do that, and you open the door for them to overtake you from behind. In this situation, try using a small, select group of soldiers to scout ahead. Guide them through here,” he pointed, drawing a line with his finger, “while keeping close watch on their formation. If you successfully reposition them like so, see how your battle options increase? You could even sneak around here and take out their commander with ease.”

“Wow… that’s amazing. You’re so clever, Leo.”

He scoffed at her. “Not really. This is the most basic of the basics. Honestly, it's a miracle you've survived this long.”

Natalie’s answer was meek. “Yeah… I know. I certainly couldn’t have made it so far alone.”

She heaved a sigh, and the hardened educator in him relaxed a little. Still, she had another hard lesson to learn, and it would do her no favours to keep it from her any longer.

“Natalie... you know how, on the battlefield, we all look out for you? Why do you think that is?”

She was silent for a moment, staring at her hands instead of meeting his eyes. “Probably because… I’m so new to all this,” she mumbled.

“Precisely,” Leo agreed. “I'm glad you realized as much on your own. That's why Xander and Camilla have always paid more attention to you-”

“I wouldn’t say-”

“No, it's fine. The strong are always alone because no one thinks they need any help.” Bitterness welled in his chest, leaving a foul taste in his mouth. “But that's not true at all. There have been many times when I wished... that I had someone at my side, someone to help guide me through tough situations. But I'm no longer a child, and I can't get away with saying such selfish things. All I'm trying to say is that you should enjoy where you are in the growth process.”

Natalie finally met his eye squarely as a tear rolled down her cheek. She stared at him for about ten seconds in silence. “Leo...I'm so sorry. It's all my fault you feel so hurt, isn't it? The others have always doted on me so... You're so talented, Leo. We're all so very impressed by you. We hold you up on a pedestal of sorts... but I can see how that might be lonely. You should know that I would trade minds with you in a moment if I could. I'm trying so hard, but I never feel like I'm – like I’m quite good enough to lead us...”

Her tears started to spill heavily, and she choked on her own breath. Guilt replaced the bitterness, and Leo gently guided her into his chest. She still fit perfectly under his chin, her shoulders the perfect width to make hugging her feel natural.

“...Forgive me, sister. I said too much. We are family, first and foremost. All that matters is we have each other's backs. Forgive my moment of weakness.” He raised his cheek off the top of her head to bury his face there, instead.

She sniffed against his chest. It took her a few more minutes to compose herself enough to speak again, but he waited patiently. “It's OK, Leo. I know I'm not as strong or wise as I should be. But that's why I need your help. I hope you will consent to keep tutoring me...”

“It would be my great honour,” Leo promised her. “Let’s call it a day here, though, and go for a walk to clear our heads.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Natalie agreed, and he led the way out onto the high walls of the castle.

She went her own way about half an hour later, claiming to need to visit the hot spring, but Leo stayed up on the wall by himself, thinking over their discussion. He’d certainly been unnecessarily rude to her; that much he could admit to. What had him really thinking, though, was the real reason that he was here.

He’d told her that the others stayed purely because she was incapable on her own… but was that really the truth?

He’d need some time to think on it.

Instead, he spent the rest of the night simply thinking about _her._

 

*                             *                             *

 

“Leo! You’re the worst,” she told him with a laugh as she punched his arm. It was about a week later, and she had just successfully completed his latest tactics assignment. “Is that really something a teacher should be saying?”

He laughed with her. “My apologies. I tend to let my sharp tongue get carried away from time to time. Honestly, when you first asked for my help, I didn't think you'd be so dedicated.”

“Well, it’s only because you’re such a great teacher.”

He was sure he imagined the colour rising to her cheeks. “No, that's not it at all.” She raised a brow at him in confusion, and he let out a short sigh. “I always had a theory about why Camilla lavishes attention on you... But now I've finally confirmed my suspicions. It's your kind heart. Being near you has a sort of… unexplainable soothing effect. Additionally, you're so kind and eager to learn, it makes teaching you a great joy.”

She was definitely blushing now. “Really? You mean it?”

“I do,” he promised. “Something about you just draws people in and makes them trust you. That's why, despite your lack of experience, you're such a natural leader. I thought the weak attracted the attention of others while the strong stood alone... But I see that was a misunderstanding born of my own arrogance.”

He watched as she stepped a little closer. The happiness that had been etched into her face only moments before was lost amid lines of worry. “Leo…”

He met her eyes, then, and felt the world crash down around him. She was close, too close, her crimson eyes wide with apology and staring straight into his soul. His heart skipped a beat and his breath caught in his throat.

She was wearing one of the hair ribbons he’d given her all those years ago.

“Thank you for helping me realize that, Natalie.” His voice was quiet, and low. Far lower than it had any right to be; it would give him away.

“Don't thank me. I didn't actually do anything...”

She finally looked away, and he squeezed his eyes shut for just a moment before clearing his throat a little awkwardly. “Enough talk. I intend to polish you into the finest strategist Nohr has ever known. Scream and cry all you want, but I won't let you off the hook until you're perfect.”

“Um, okay... just don't go _too_ hard on me. Promise? ...Leo?!”

He gave her a mischievous grin, and then laughed at the defeated groan she gave him.

 

*                             *                             *

 

“Leo, darling? What’s wrong?”

“You’ve – you’ve always known, haven’t you?”

“About what?” Camilla taunted.

“You know full well – you picked Medona _on purpose_ , sister. Please don’t play coy with me.”

He was pacing agitatedly in front of the simple couch she was sitting on. Finally she reached out as he passed her and grabbed his arm, pulling him over to sit at her side.

“Yes, I have always known,” she told him as she smoothed out his hair. “Ever since you figured out she wasn’t your sister, you started acting strangely. It only took a pair of eyes and a brain to see it, darling – which proved that Xander is lacking in at least one of those departments.”

“What am I going to _do_ , Camilla?”

“I thought you were over it?”

“I _was_ – or at least, I _thought_ I was. But then I was looking over one of her battle strategies, and she looked up at me, and I…” He finished his sentence with a growl of frustration as he dug into one of his pockets and produced a tiny wooden box.

He pressed it wordlessly into Camilla’s hand, and she opened it immediately. She gasped upon seeing the ring nestled inside. “When did you get this?”

“This morning, in town,” Leo groaned. “I saw it, and I thought of her, and before I knew it, it was mine.”

Camilla regarded it in silence for another few seconds before snapping the lid closed and passing it back to him. He stowed it back in his pocket as she spoke.  

“Leo, darling, you know she’s been acting differently with all of us since she was taken to Hoshido. I think she doesn’t see any of us in quite the same light anymore. Besides, you’re not blood, dear. And she’s the closest you’ll find to your station if you wanted to count it a political move.”

“This is not about politics, Camilla-”

“I’m aware of that, darling – I’m simply giving you options.”

Leo fell silent as he heard a set of heavy footfalls approaching. He shouldn’t have been surprised to head Xander’s voice on the other side of the tent flaps.

“Camilla? May I come in, or are you busy?”

“It’s just me and Leo, dear, come on in.”

Xander ducked in, took one look at them, and rushed to grab Leo’s chin and look him over. “What happened? You look terrible.”

“I am _fine-_ ”

“The poor dear has finally decided to admit to himself that he’s in love with Natalie.”

Shocked silence permeated the tent.

“Is this true, Leo?”

Leo squeezed his eyes shut and nodded in short, quick jerks before dropping his face into his palms.

Another ten seconds of silence. “Well. That… explains a lot, actually.”

“See, darling?” Camilla nudged Leo’s shoulder. He still hung his head, but he dropped his hands and looked up at her out of the corner of his eye. “What did I tell you?”

Leo grinned reluctantly at that.

“Well, Leo? Is there a reason you’re hesitating?”

“Because she was raised as our sister?”

“But you’ve never truly seen her as such,” Xander commented. “All this time, I thought it was because she hailed from Hoshido…Gods, but I can be stupid sometimes.”

He barked out a laugh, and Leo looked up at him in surprise. “I thought you’d…”

“That I’d what?”

“I don’t know – be disgusted with me, disown me, something other than… whatever this is.”

“Acceptance?” Xander gave him a curious look. “Leo, she is family to us all, but she isn’t quite our sister in the same way that Camilla and Elise are. Not only would this give her the chance to _truly_ become a part of the family, but I imagine it would bring both of you great happiness.”

Leo met his eye, but tried to keep his expression neutral. When he didn’t say anything, Xander continued. “I saw her, not even an hour ago – she was asking me if I’d seen you. She looked very worried, commented that you’d been avoiding her.”

“I have been,” Leo almost spat back. “What am I supposed to say? _‘Hi, Natalie, I’m in love with you, I have been since I was nine, how about we get married?’_ Even if I haven’t seen her as a sister in years, she’s certainly seen me as a brother.”

“You won’t know until you say something, darling,” Camilla told him quietly. “You’ve never been the sort to shy away from something like this before.”

“I’ve never dealt with anything _precisely_ like this before.”

“Leo, I know the stakes seem high, but I have a feeling that things will work in your favour. And if it helps give you the strength to speak with her, then… know that you do so with my blessing.”

_That_ made Leo sit up straight. “Xander?”

“I mean it,” he told him. He had that little dimple between his brows that he only got when he was being deadly serious. “I want you to be happy, Leo, and if this will make you happy, then this is what I want for you.”

A fragile peace settled around Leo. One of his worst fears out of this whole thing was the backlash from his siblings. To have Xander and Camilla’s support was beyond what he expected.

“Thank you. Both of you.”

“Just promise me you’ll at least talk to her, darling. You’ll feel better with the air cleared.”

“I will. I don’t know when, but – I will.” He stood up, and Camilla stood with him. Xander placed a bracing hand on his shoulder for a moment, squeezing tightly, and then Camilla hugged him for just a _little_ too long.

“Look at my dear baby brother, all grown up,” she cooed, and he pushed her away with a laugh before bidding them goodnight and escaping her tent.

The castle was winding down for the night, but Leo was still too worked up to even think about sleep. He wandered the grounds aimlessly, lost in his own thoughts, until he found himself standing up on the high wall surrounding the castle courtyard.

“Leo? Is that you? I’ve been looking everywhere!”

His eyes slid closed and he took a deep breath, holding it until his lungs started to scream. He didn't open his eyes again until he exhaled.

There she was, right by his side – too close, once again. How he managed to _not_ simply sweep her away and kiss her breathless each time she did this was beyond him.

“Hi, Natalie.”

“What’s wrong, Leo? You look so sad. I’ve been worried about you, but you seemed to be avoiding me… have I done something to upset you?”

The concern on her face was truly heartbreaking. He shook his head, not really trusting his voice at the moment. Silence filled the space around them, broken only by the night bugs humming.

“Please, not now, Natalie,” he finally murmured.

“What's the matter? I know you too well, Leo. You can't keep anything from me. Come on now, tell me what's bothering you.” Her hand fell to his forearm where he was resting on the wall. “If I _did_ do something, I’ll give you space, but…”

“...Could you please just leave me alone for a while?”

More silence. He looked up to see the most torturous pain on her face that he’d ever seen. “Oh, no. You don’t – you don’t mean _that_ … right?”

He sighed and looked away from her again, trying to hide his shame. “You’re just the last person I want to see me like this right now.”

She tutted at him. “Don’t be silly. Being sad is nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“You don’t understand – you couldn’t,” he snapped at her. “Please, just go.”

“There’s nothing I can do to help you?”

He didn’t answer her. There was a painful lump in his throat, and he stared out over the horizon in an effort to calm himself.

“…Very well,” she sighed. “If you don't want me around, I'll leave you to your solitude. Just know that I'm here for you. If you need anything at all, please let me know.”

She squeezed his forearm gently, and then her hand was gone. The space where it had been resting was cold. The sound of her footfalls against the stone shocked him back to his proper senses, and he turned to watch her leave; he was surprised by the disappointed and defeated slump of her shoulders, by the way her head hung between them, and suddenly he was jogging to catch up to her again.

“Wait,” he called. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. He paused at her side, steeling himself for what was to come. “Forgive me, Natalie. Perhaps you _can_ help after all. Will you hear me out?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she quipped, and he managed a small smile for her, at least.

“Shall we walk?” She nodded, and they started to step slowly, more of a meander than a walk. There was silence again, but it was comfortable; Natalie seemed content to wait until he was ready to begin. “I have a problem, and for the life of me I can't figure out a solution,” he settled on finally.

He saw her look up at him out of the corner of his eye, and met her gaze. “There’s something even the great Leo can’t figure out?!” she teased, in an effort to lighten the mood. “What could it be?”

He smiled reluctantly again as he broke their eye contact. “There's something I want very badly, but I don't know how to go about obtaining it. This has never happened. I've never had a problem I couldn't think my way out of. I know it would be foolish to act without proper planning... And yet, I don't think I can hold myself back any longer.”

She had been watching him this whole time, her eyes never leaving him. “Leo, if it means that much to you, you have to go for it! What is it you want?”

He bit his bottom lip as he reached for the little wooden box in his pocket again. “Perhaps this will make things clear.”

He stopped walking, and Natalie stopped next to him, turning to face him more squarely. He popped the lid open and stared at the ring nestled inside: a square garnet sat nestled in the middle of a halo of sapphires, and the white-gold band had been laid with tiny diamonds. He didn’t even really remember how much it had cost him, but it had been _perfect_.

Leo swallowed thickly and turned the box so that she could see inside.

She gasped, much the same way Camilla had. Her eyes went wide, and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. “This is a ring.”

“Keen as ever,” he answered dryly.

“It’s beautiful.”

He waited until she looked back up to meet his eye before continuing. “You might have surmised, this isn't just any ring... This is the ring you give to one special person whom you vow to love for eternity. When I bought this ring for you, for the first time in my life, I felt... really, truly happy. _Pure_ happiness, like everything finally made sense in my life. I've been battling these emotions since I first learned we aren't blood related... But as I said, I cannot hold them back any longer.”

He didn’t think her eyes could have gotten any wider, but they did. Colour immediately flooded her cheeks; he hoped it was a good sign. “You don’t mean…”

“Natalie…I have loved you for so, so long,” he told her, voice breaking. “Will you – will you do me the honour of accepting this ring?”

“I – I don’t know what to say…”

So Leo bent down onto one knee.

“You are – you’re all I ever think about. You have been for years,” he told her. She had started crying, unable to hold the tears back. “I found out we weren’t actually siblings when I was only nine, and basically, since then… Natalie, I love you so much, I’m honestly in agony. It consumes my every waking moment.”

The tears kept falling, but Leo stayed where he was, on one knee in front of her, hoping she would say _something_. Words, however, seemed to be lost on her.

“I'm sorry... I know this is probably the last thing you expected me to say,” he offered quietly. “But now that it's out there, I must know... Do you feel the same?”

She finally sniffled and dried her face with the backs of her hands, though it didn’t do much to make any difference as fresh tears replaced the old. “I – I do,” she finally choked out. “Leo, I will happily accept this ring.”

Leo froze; had he heard her correctly?

“R-really?!”

She nodded vigorously and laughed through her tears. She held her left hand out to him, and he took the ring from the little box and slid it onto her finger as he stood. It fit perfectly, as if it were made just for her.

He laughed with her, the weight of anxiety in his stomach lifted. He thought he might drift away, so he pulled her into a tight embrace to keep himself grounded.

She looked up at him with puffy red eyes and smiled the most blinding smile he’d ever seen. “I'm glad you said something; I don't think I ever would have had the courage to. But, ever since I was taken to Hoshido, and I found out we weren’t actually siblings, I… I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Leo. I was so scared when I realized what was happening. What would the others think? But I’ve decided that I don’t care. I deserve happiness, and if I find it at your side, then that’s where I’ll be.”  

Leo dried her cheeks for her and then went back to hugging her close.

“I know I still have much to learn, but I promise to try my hardest for you! I want nothing more than to be worthy of your love.”

“You are perfectly splendid just as you are, Natalie. Together, I'm certain we will both continue to grow as warriors and as people.”

He left one hand circled around her waist, and brought the other to her chin, where he pinched it gently between his thumb and fingers to tip her head back. She looked at him expectantly, and he finally, _finally_ did what he’d been waiting to do for far too many years.

He let go of her chin as he kissed her for that very first time, and slid his hand into her hair at the back of her neck. She melted against him, content to follow his lead when his lips parted against hers. Jolts of electricity shot through him when his tongue met hers.

She pressed herself closer to him, and he backed her up against the wall, pinning her there. He parted their kiss then, and she whimpered disappointedly – until he grasped her firmly around the waist with both hands and sat her on one of the lower crenellations in the wall. He stepped in closer, and her knees spread instinctually to allow him to close their distance.

He kissed her again until she was quite literally breathless, and gave a shaky, airy laugh at the sound of her gasping for air.

“Thank you for your hand, Natalie. I swear to devote my life to your happiness.”

She leaned up for another kiss, but this one was brief. “I promise you the same.”

“I've hidden my feelings for so long... I can't believe you felt the same way all this time.” He cupped her flushed cheek with a soft palm, and she leaned into it contentedly. “Stay with me forever.”

“I will. I promise.”

He smiled at her, and she smiled right back – but only for a moment.

He had too many years of not being able to kiss her breathless to make up for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed! Comments are always welcome :)


End file.
